Six of us - Charles Schafer (leader), Jim Ramaker, Landa
Robilliard, Kelly Maas, Andy Skumanich, and Roger Crawley
enjoyed perfect weather, a plethora of wild flowers, lovely Sierra
lakes and meadows, and a great mountain climb over three days
Aug.7-9. We met at the Ranger Station on the road in to Florence
Lake, secured a permit, and boarded the 8:30 am ferry to cross the
lake. It was hot and there was a plethora of mosquitoes on the
trail to Sally Keyes Lakes and Selden Pass. Seven Gables is only
about one mile from the pass. At 5 o'clock we made camp at on
the east side of one of the Marie Lakes. In the morning we went
around the shoulder of a ridge and dropped a little to Sand Piper
Lake and the base of our mountain. There's a short, steep section
up through some bushes and ledges and then about 400 yards of
open sandy and rocky terrain to the saddle on the east rim. We
made our way over boulders up to a ridge near the summit. We got
out our ice axes for a short crossing of steep, hard snow and
scrambled up easy rocks to the top. Views were the normal
outstanding with very clear air and no clouds. Charles started
down to try and find a route with a third class chimney and some
ledges over to a pass to the south and thence over to Gemini
(12,866). It didn't look like much fun and when we considered
how long it would take, one by one, the rest of us became
mutinous. Charles finally let us have our way. But he groused.
That's a fact. On the way down we all tried to ski and glissade
down the snowfield. On the way back there was ample time and
in the warm sunshine we flattened ourselves on some granite and
dozed and gazed at the shimmering lakes. Next morning we
headed down and cooled ourselves in Florence Lake while waiting
for the ferry.